The Ides of March
by XenaPendragon
Summary: A write up of the nice/heartbreaking scenes in the Ides of March. I tried to convey more of the characters' feelings, to hopefully try to kill your feels even more. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Guess who's back, back again. Here to annoy you with my exceedingly short chapters! I wrote a wee fic of the nice scenes in The Ides of March, in honour of it being said day yesterday. I used the actual transcript off Whoosh! and just added my own descriptions and stuff, so enjoy!**

**Xena**

I felt my head being moved, slowly. Her cold, wide fingers gently tilted my chin so I faced her. I was glad she did, for I couldn't do it myself.

The compassion and sadness in her eyes was something I never wanted to see directed at me. It broke my heart. I wasn't used to this...sympathy. I wanted us to be equal again, play fighting as we traveled, telling each other stories as we lay side by side, talking into the night.

I didn't want her to be my protector. I wanted my friend back.

She lent down to my face, kissing me lightly on my forehead. The feel of her breath against my skin was comforting, and I felt the love from that single action emanating through my whole being.

"Gabrielle," I whispered, as she gently tilted me up in her arms. I could feel her warmth on my bare shoulders, welcome against the icy air, and the snow falling through the bars in my view.

"Xena." She smiled, tears falling down her cheeks and onto my skin, her wet eyes glistening. I wanted to move, to hold her in my arms, but no matter how much my mind willed it, I could not move.

My fingers twitched feebly, but nothing.

All I wanted was to wipe the tears from her sad eyes and protect her from anything that might come.

But there I was, helpless.

All I could manage to comfort her - and myself - was:

"You're crying?" I whispered, my love for her never exceeding this moment. "Don't cry."

She smiled bravely, for me. She was trying to be strong.

"I won't. Rest."

There she went again, looking after me. I loved being with her, lying in her arms. But this was never the way I imagined it. Helpless, vulnerable, paralysed. Relying on my soulmate to break her cult of peace to save me - through bloodshed. Violent bloodshed.

I agreed with her, and closed my eyes slowly, a single tear clearing a path down my bloodied face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Gabrielle**

I watched as she closed her eyes, her thick lashes resting peacefully, a single, mournful tear sliding down her face. Blackened, bloodied and bruised, I caressed her cheek with the back of my cold hand, brushing away the evidence of her sadness.

I watched her sleep. Sat here, with her lying across my knees as we waited for death to come, was not how I imagined our last moments together. Old and grey, one of us sat at the other's bedside, holding wrinkled hands as we let each other slip away.

No. Here we were, young and strong - defeated by evil. Evil of all things. What had our work amounted to? What had our lives been for -

I know what they had been for.

I stroked her soft black hair and entwined it in my fingers as her chest rose and fell peacefully. Again I kissed her cheek, my lips lingering against her cold skin for as long as I could muster. Her peaceful beauty as she slept showed no signs of the unbearable pain her body was experiencing.

Her fingers and toes twitched every now and then, her nerves obviously suffering.

I held her hand closely in mine, squeezing it tightly every time I needed to.

What would we do? I didn't want to leave her. I wanted this moment to last forever.

Just keep us here, here in the cold, in the fear of our impending deaths. Just keep us together.

Who knows what would happen to us in the next life?

How long would it be until I could see her again?

I love you Xena.


	3. Chapter 3

**Xena**

I don't know how long I was out for, but I soon realised I had wasted some of my last moments with Gabrielle, sleeping.

Kicking myself mentally, I relaxed my tensed body in her arms. I opened my eyes and was greeted with her concerned face hovering above mine.

She smiled as I regained consciousness.

There had been something on my mind.

And that was the biggest understatement I would ever say, but I needed to get something off my chest.

"I made you leave the way of love." I confessed. "It was my fault."

She shook her head minimally, sighing affectionately.

"I had a choice- to do nothing or save my friend." She smiled, putting me at ease. "I chose the way of friendship."

There was more.

I was aware these were my last moments with the person I loved most in the world. Last hours - minutes - seconds - for all knew.

"I'm sorry for all the times I didn't treat you right."

This one statement held so much meaning. I meant so much by it, so many memories flooding into my head, my guilt like a tidal wave surging around my brain. 'How could I hate you, how could I hurt you?' I wished with all my heart we had never grown apart, all the distrust, the unfathomable hate, the estrangement. It was a place I never liked to revisit, even in my mind.

"Xena- you've brought out the best in me." She said softly. "Before I met you- no one saw me for who I was. I felt- invisible. But you saw all the things that I could be. You saved me, Xena."

If I wasn't dying already , this killed me. Images of a younger, wider eyed Gabrielle melted their way into my brain. She had saved me. That talkative, loving, naieve, trusting Gabrielle had saved me all those years ago. Only the gods know what would have become of me without her.

She saved me. And here she was thanking me for that. The truth was, we saved each other.

The Fates had our fine golden threads carefully entertwined, just waiting for the right time. But the method in the madness of their plan now, I didn't have a clue.

"I wish-" I stuttered, the pain making it hard to even talk.

"What?" She said softly, holding the back of my head up on her knee with the wide spread of her hand.

"That I hadda read your scrolls...at least once." I confessed, the regret making a sickening pang in my stomach. Now I would never get to read them. And she had always so wanted me to. Just looking into her deep eyes, absorbing myself in her face and the way she looked at me, and held me in her arms, I wished this moment would last forever.

"You would've liked them," She admitted gently, smiling sadly.

"I know." I said, the guilt washing over my face. I locked my eyes with hers as I heard 2 guards approaching, metres down the left corridor, turning the second corner.

I hoped my love, and everything I never said was told to her in this one gaze. This time I noticed everything about her, from her kind, sea green eyes to her wide ears, or that line that ran down from her nose to her lips. I stared at her as if for the first and last time, wondering what first made me fall in love with her, wondering what I would miss most.


	4. Chapter 4

**Gabrielle**

As she gazed into my eyes, I felt her love radiating over me like a welcome heat wave at the end of a long winter.

I stared into her icy blue eyes, thanking her silently for finding me, and helping me to find myself.

I traced my thumb over her cheek carefully, making sure to avoid her purple bruises. She knew something I didn't know.

Why were her eyes so desperate, as if this was our last second together?

"It's time." A soldier announced.

And now I realised.

**AN: I'm sorry that each chapter was so short, and this one probably doesn't even deserve to be called a chapter. I'm sorry, tis my worst vice. I was thinking of maybe carrying this on to an alternate ending? Maybe, if I get the time. Just let me know if that would be cool. I may just do it anyway. Imagine that. I just tried this narrative again because it's a nice way to get both of the characters' feelings and that, I find. **

**So thank you for reading! If you want to review or follow, that would be very nice of ye. **

**Merci, and au revoir, till next time chums.**


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